Knitted fabrics and in methods of producing such fabrics



May 22, 1962 s. F. cHloDlNE 3,035,427

KNITTED FABRICS AND 1N METHODS o'F PRODUCING SUCH FABRICS Filed Dec. 9, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 22, 1962 s. F. cHloDlNE 3,035,427

AND IN METHO INVENTOR. Samuel E Wadi/M,

ATTORNEYS.

3,035,427 Patented May 22, 1962 3,035,427 KNITTED FABRICS AND IN IVIETHODS F PRDUCING SUCH FABRICS Samuel F. Chiodine, Johnston, RJ., assignor to Lawson fliodcts, Inc., Pawtucket, RJ., a corporation of Rhode s an Filed Feb. 9, 1957, Ser. No. 701,530 21 Claims. (Cl. 66-200) This invention relates to knitted fabrics. More particularly, it relates to knitted elastic lace fabrics suited especially for use in the ornamentation of elastic garments, such as foundation garments, and also relates to methods of producing such fabrics.

The chief aim of my invention is to provide ornamental knitted lace fabric having two way stretch which is soft and light in weight, yet capable, when fashioned into a garment, of clinging snugly to the body of the wearer with a desirable pressure and without tendency to creep or wrinkle.

A further object of my invention is to provide patterned elastic lace fabric capable of being produced rapidly and economically on standard knitting machines, such as the Wildt model R.T.R. circular machine, from a selection of inelastic, elastic and stretch yarns, and any combination thereof.

A further object of my invention is t0 provide an ornamental knitted elastic fabric interspersed with interstices formed by displacing loops laterally from spaced wales in spaced courses and doubling them with loops of adjacent wales and by floating the yarn across the same spaced wales in the courses immediately succeeding the spaced courses.

Other objects and attendant advantages of my invention will appear from the following detailed description of the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. l is a photographic view of the face of an actual unstretched 1 and 1 rib fabric embodying my invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view, on an enlarged scale, of the face of a 1 and l rib fabric like that of FIG. 1.

The term elastic yarn as used herein shall mean any yarn having an inherent capacity to elongate under tension, and having an inherent tendency to contract from an elongated condition with a degree of power in contraction. Such yarns include, but are not necessarily limited to, rubber yarn, covered rubber yarn and elastic polymers of the type disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 2,623,- 031, one example of which is presently known as du Pont MT-SOD yarn.

The term stretch yarn as used herein shall refer to inelastic yarns which have been treated in such manner as to have the capacity to elongate and contract. Such yarns have virtually no power in contraction and incude, but are not necessarily limited to, yarns formed by twisting, heat-setting and reverse twisting synthetic yarns, as in the case of Helanca yarn, or by crush-crinkling and heat-setting synthetic yarns, as in the case of Banlon yarn, or by passing synthetic yarns through a heated zone and over a sharp edge to produce a permanent coil or kink therein, as in the case of Agilon yarn.

In describing the preferred embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. However, it isnot my intention to be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents Which operate in a sirni lar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.

Referring to FiG. 2 of the drawings, it will be observed that the 1 and l rib fabric there shown as illustrative of my invention is formed with repetitive courses 1, 2, 3 and 4 and with cylinder needle wales C and C in alternation with dial needle wales D and D. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the fabric of this invention has a lacy appearance resulting from the formation of open and solid areas in predetermined pattern arrangement. Portions of the open and solid areas ofthe fabric of FIG. 2 are indicated at O and S, respectively, separated by dot-dash lines. The area O of PEG. 2, it will be noted, has staggered interstices X and X formed, respectively, in alternating zones Z and intervening zones Z.

The fabric of this invention can be made on any knitting machine capable of needle selection and transfer of stitches from one bank of needles to another. The Wildt model RTR. machine, having the usual complement of cylinder and dial needles, eight yarn feeds, four transfer stations interspersed uniformly between the yarn feeds and well known needle selection means (such as rocking jacks and trick wheels), is particularly well adapted to the manufacture of the fabric of this invention.

FIGS. l and 2 are illustrative of fabrics made on a machine having four knitting feeds and two transfer stations, or multiples thereof. In knitting the fabric, as shown in FIG. 2, six yarns are employed, comprising yarns y and e in courses l, yarn y in courses 2, yarns y2 and e' in courses 3 and yarn yB in courses 4. Yarns e and e are preferably elastic yarns, while yarns y, y', y2 and y3 are preferably inelastic or stretch yarns, or any combination thereof. During formation of the solid areas of the fabric, the yarns y, y', y2 and y3 are fed to all of the cylinder and dial needles, while the elastic yarns e and e are fed to the cylinder needles only. As a result, the elastic yarns e and e' float racross the dial needle wales D and D in the area S.

The formation of the open areas of the fabric proceeds as follows: The yarn y of courses 1 is fed to all of the dial needles and to alternate cylinder needles. The intervening cylinder needles are retained in welt position during formation of courses 1 and hence yarn y is floated across the cylinder needle wales C. The elastic yarn e `of courses 1 is fed to the alternate cylinder needles only, and hence is oated across the dial needle wales D and D as well as the cylinder needle wales C, while being interknit with the loops of yarn y in cylinder needle wales C to form the doubled loops 5, 6. The yarn y of courses 2 is fed to all of the dial and cylinder needles, thus forming temporarily the usual l and l rib construction. At a transfer station immediately following the yarn feed where yarn y is fed, the loops of yarn y on those cylinder needles which had interknit the loops 5 and 6 of yarns y and e in courses 1 are transferred laterally to adjacent dial needles. As a result, doubled loops 7 and 8 are formed in the courses 2 in the alternate dial needle wales D. The yarn y2 of courses 3 is fed to all of the dial needles and to the cylinder needles which were retained in Welt position during the knitting of courses 1. The alternate cylinder needles which knitted during formation of courses 1 are retained in welt position during the knitting of courses 3 and, as a result, yarn y2 is floated across the cylinder needle wales C. The elastic yarn e of courses 3 is fed only to the cylinder needles knitting yarn y2, and hence is iloated across the dial needle wales D and D and the cylinder needle wales C', while being interknit with the loops of the yarn y2 in cylinder needle wales C to form doubled loops 5', 6'. The yarn y3 of courses 4 is fed to all of the dial and cylinder needles, thus forming temporarily the usual 1 `and 1 rib construction. At a transfer station immediately following the yarn feed where yarn y3 is fed, the loops of yarn ys on those cylinder needles which had interknit the loops 5 and 6 of yarns y2 and e' in courses 3 are transferred. laterally to adjacent dial needles. As a result, doubled loops 7 and 8 are formed in the courses i in the alternate dial needle wales D.

It will thus be seen that the staggered interstices X and X in the open area O of the fabric are formed by transferring spaced cylinder needle loops of a course laterally to adjacent dial needles and then Welting the empty cylinder needles at the next yarn feed. The welting of the empty cylinder needles at the yarn feed following the transfer station causes the yarns y or y2 and the elastic yarns e or e' to float across the top of the interstices X and X'. As a result, contraction of the elastic yarns e and e in the finished fabric does not close the interstices. Starting new loops on the empty cylinder needles with the non-elastic yarns y' or y3 and anchoring such new loops with the doubled loops containing the elastic yarns e or e tends to exaggerate the interstices. Such exaggeration is due to the contraction of the elastic yarns in the iinished fabric which pulls the new, open loops of the nonelastic yarns y' or y3 (which form the bottoms of the interstices) toward the succeeding courses containing the doubled loops.

Selection of needles at the various yarn feeds and transfer stations is achieved through use of rocking jacks under the needles. The jacks are selected by cams controlled from trick wheels, as is well understood in the art. United States Patent No. 2,391,665 is illustrative of the use of jacks, cams and trick wheels for this purpose. Actual transfer of loops may be accomplished in any known way, such as with the use of needle deliector cams as illustrated in United States Patent No. 2,249,080.

As a consequence of knitting the fabric in the manner above described, interstices X and X', in Zones Z and Z respectively, are formed in area O in staggered relationship. It will be noted that the doubled loops 5 and 6 of the yarns y and e in `area O are anchored by the transferred loops 7 of yarn y in each instance, while the doubled loops 5 and 6 of the yarns y2 and e' are anchored by the transferred loops 7 of yarn ya. In all instances, the yarn floats in area O extend across the interstices X and X at the face of the fabric.

As mentioned above, the fabric of this invention may be composed of a mixture of elastic, inelastic and stretch yarns in any desired combination. For example, in the fabric shown in FIG. l, the yarns y and y2 comprise 140 denier multiiilament nylon yarn, the elastic yarns e and e comprise 600 denier du Pont MT-SOD yarn and the yarns y' and y3 comprise 140 denier Banlon stretch yarn. Alternatively, the yarns y and y2 may comprise 140 denier Banlon stretch yarn, and the yarns y and y3 may comprise 140 denier multiiilarnent nylon yarn.

l If desired, the fabric of this invention may be knit entirely of inelastic yarns comprising undrawn or partially drawn synthetic linear polyamides and then treated with a reaction mixture comprising alcohol, formaldehyde and an acid catalyst, in the manner taught by United States Patent No. 2,441,085, to render it elastic.

While a preferred embodiment of my invention has been. described in detail, it will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the invention as hereinafter claimed. For example, instead of transferring loops from cylinder to dial needles it is entirely possible, in the practice of my invention, to reverse the procedure and transfer loops from dial to cylinder needles in any'manner well known in the art.

Additionally, the arrangement of the yarn feeds and transfer stations may be varied in any desired manner, as is well understood in the art. For example, it is entirely within the scope of my invention to have as many as 3 or 4 or even more yarn feeds prior to each transfer station. Similarly, while the preferred fabric described in detail herein is made on a machine having 4 yarn feeds and 2 transfer stations, or multiples thereof, it is entirely possible to make such fabric on a machine having two yarn feeds and one transfer station, or multiples thereof.

It is also to be understood that my invention lends itself not only to rib knitted constructions of all types, but also to plain knitted fabrics as Well. Additionally, while in the preferred fabric shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings the zones Z and Z' overlap each other, they may be separated by one or more courses of yarn, as may be desired, in a manner which will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

The term inner face as used in the claims may refer to one or the other side of a fabric, while the term outer face refers to the opposite side thereof.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. -Rib knitted lace fabric having inner face wales and outer face Wales in alternation, and having portions interspersed with interstices, said fabric portions having spaced courses of yarn wherein loops of selected inner face wales are doubled with loops of adjacent wales to form the interstices; second courses adjacent the spaced courses containing elastic yarn floated across the selected inner face wales and knit in inner face wales intervening between said selected wales; third courses of yarn adjacent the second courses having open loops in the selected inner face wales comprising the bottoms of the interstices; and fourth courses adjacent the third courses containing elastic yarn knit in the selected inner face wales to anchor the open loops of the third courses.

2. The fabric of claim 1 wherein the spaced and third courses contain stretch yarn and the second and fourth courses contain elastic yarn and inelastic yarn.

3. The fabric of claim l wherein the spaced and third courses contain inelastic yarn and the second and fourth courses contain elastic yarn and stretch yarn.

4. The fabric of claim 1 wherein the selected wales comprise alternate inner face wales and wherein the elastic yarn in the second courses is knit in the inner face wales intervening between the selected wales and is floated across the selected wales and their adjacent outer face wales.

5. In a rib knitted elastic lace fabric having inner face wales and outer face wales in alternation, a plurality of spaced apart courses containing elastic yarn knit in selected spaced wales and oated across the intervening wales, courses adjacent to alternate of the spaced apart courses having loops in selected inner face wales doubled with loops of adjacent wales to form interstices in the fabric, and courses adjacent to the spaced apart courses intervening between the alternate spaced apart courses having open loops in said selected inner face wales comprising the bottoms of the interstices.

6. The fabric of claim 5 wherein the open loops are anchored by loops of the elastic yarn in said intervening spaced apart courses.

7. The fabric of claim 5 further including courses intervening between said spaced apart courses and containing elastic yarn and a second yarn, the elastic yarn in said intervening courses being knit in spaced inner face wales and floated across the selected inner face wales.

8. In a rib knitted elastic lace fabric having inner face wales and outer face wales in alternation, at least one pair of spaced apart courses, each such course containing elastic yarn knitted into loops in alternate inner face wales and floated across the intervening wales, a first course disposed between the courses of a pair of said spaced apart courses having transferred loops in the alternate inner face wales doubled with loops of adjacent wales, said transferred loops anchoring the elastic yarn loops in one course of the pair of spaced apart courses, a second course disposed between the courses of the pair of spaced apart courses having open loops in the alternate inner face wales, said open loops being anchored by the elastic yarn loops in the other course of the pair of spaced courses, and at least one course disposed between each of said first and second courses wherein the yarn thereof is lioated across the alternate inner face wales.

9. The fabric of claim 8 wherein at least one course disposed between said first and second courses contains elastic yarn knit in spaced wales and iioated across the alternate inner face wales.

10. The fabric of claim 8 wherein at least one course of each pair of spaced apart courses comprises a course of a next adjacent pair of spaced apart courses.

11. In a rib knitted elastic lace fabric having inner face Wales and outer face Wales in alternation, alternating pairs of spaced apart courses, each such course containing elastic yarn knitted into loops in alternate inner face wales and floated across the intervening wales, a rst course disposed between the courses of each alternating pair of spaced apart courses having transferred loops in the alternate inner face wales doubled with loops `of adjacent wales, said transferred loops anchoring the elastic yarn loops in one course of the alternating pair of spaced apart courses, a second course disposed between the courses of each alternating pair of spaced apart courses having open loops in the alternate inner face wales, said open loops lbeing anchored by :the elastic yarn loops in the other course of the alternating pair of spaced apart courses, pairs of spaced apar-t courses intervening between the alternating pairs of spaced apart courses, said intervening courses containing elastic yarn knitted into loops in inner face rib wales intervening between the aforesaid alternate inner face wales and floated across said latter wales, a rst course disposed between the courses of each intervening pair of spaced apart courses having transferred loops in the intervening inner face wales doubled with loops of adjacent wales, said latter transferred loops anchoring Ithe elastic yarn loops in one of the courses of the intervening pair of spaced apart courses, a second course disposed between the courses of each intervening pair of spaced apart courses having open loops in the intervening inner face W-ales, said open loops being anchored by the elastic yarn loops in the other course of the intervening pair of spaced apart courses, and at least one course disposed between each of said rst and second courses wherein the yarn thereof is floated yacross the Wales of the next adjacent rst course from which loops are transferred.

l2. The fabric of claim l1 wherein the alternating pairs of spaced apart courses overlap the intenvening pairs of spaced apart courses.

13. The fabric of claim 11 wherein at least one course of each pair of spaced apart courses comprises a course of a next adjacent pair of spaced apart courses.

14. In knitted elastic lace fabric, at least one pair of spaced apart courses, each such course containing elastic yarn knitted into loops in selected needle wales and floated across the intervening needle wales, a first course disposed ybetween the courses of a pair of said spaced apart courses having transferred loops in the selected needle Wales doubled with loops of adjacent needle wales, said transferred loops anchoring the elastic yarn loops in one course of the pair of spaced apart courses, a second course disposed between the courses of the pair of spaced apart courses having open loops in the selected needle wales, said open loops being anchored by the elastic yarn loops in the other course of the pair of spaced courses, and at least one course disposed between said rst and second courses wherein the yarn thereof is floated across the selected needle wales.

15. Knitted fabric having a portion :thereof interspersed with interstices, said fabric portion incorporating: at least two spaced apart courses containing elastic yarn knitted into loops in selected needle wales and floated across the intervening needle wales, a course immediately successive to at least one of the said spaced apart courses having transferred loops in the selected needle wales doubled with loops of adjacent needle wales to form the interstices, said transferred loops in the selected needle wales anchoring elastic yarn loops inthe immediately preceding course, and a course immediately preceding at least one of the said spaced apart courses having open loops in the selected needle wales comprising the bottoms of the interstices, said open loops being anchored by loops of elastic yarn.

16. Fllhe fabric of claim l5 further having at least one course preceding the open loops whereof the yarn is oated across the selected needle wales.

17. In knitted fabric incorporating a pair of spaced apart courses containing elastic yarn knitted into loops in selected wales, a course disposed between the pair of spaced apart courses having a transferred loop in a selected Wale doubled with a loop of an adjacent wale to form an interstice in the fabric, said transferred loop anchoring an elastic yarn loop of one of the spaced apart courses, and a second course disposed between the pair of spaced apart `courses having an open loop in the selected needle Wale comprising the botto-rn of the interstice, said open loop being anchored by a loop of the elastic yarn of the other spaced apart course.

18. In knitted fabric, a transferred loop in a selected needle Wale doubled with a loop of an adjacent needle wale and anchoring a loop of elastic yarn to form an interstice, an open loop in the selected needle wale comprising the bottom of the interstice, land a second elastic loop anchoring the open loop.

19. The fabric of claim 18 further having at least one course preceding the open loop whereof the yarn is floated across the selected needle wale.

20. The fabric of claim 19 wherein at least one course preceding the open loop contains elastic yarn floated across the selected needle wale.

21. Knitted fabric having a portion thereof interspersed with interstices, said fabric portion incorporating: at least two spaced apart courses containing elastic yarn knitted into loops in selected needle wales and floated across the intervening needle wales, a course immediately successive to at least one of the said spaced apart courses having transferred loops in at least some of said selected needle wales doubled with loops of adjacent needle wales to form the interstices, said transferred loops anchoring elastic yarn loops in the immediately preceding course, and a course immediately preceding at least one of the said spaced apart courses having open loops in the selected needle wales which contain the transferred loops, said open loops comprising the ybottoms of the interstices and being anchored by loops of elastic yarn.

References Cited in the tileV of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,852,936 Nebel Apr. 5, 1932 2,238,353 Weintraub et al. Apr. 15, 1941 2,279,180 Snader Apr. 7, 1942 2,340,664 Holmes et al Feb. 1, 1944 2,715,762 Schumann Aug. 23, 1955 2,741,825 Runton et al. Apr. 17, 1956 2,807,073 Stuewer Sept. 24, 1957 2,946,211 Morancy July 26, 1960 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE 0F CORRECTION Patent No. 3,035,427 May 22, 1962 Samuel F. Chodine It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

In the heading to the printed specification, line 7, for "Feb, 9, 1957" read Dec. 9, 1957 Signed and sealed this 11th day of September 1962n (SEAL) Attest:

DAVID L. LADD Commissioner of Patents ERNEST W. SWIDER Attesting Officer 

